Book Review

Now it's the subject of a handy history from Osprey – number 15 in the publisher's new "Air Vanguard" series.

From development and design through deployment and defeat, text traverses the total tale:

Technical Specifications

Production Variants

Service History

Postwar Survivors

Operational accounts begin with the Spanish Civil War, move to attacks on Poland and France, and crest at the Battle of Britain. After an interlude on Regia Aeronautica use, coverage continues with Balkan and North African service. And combat content concludes with Eastern Front and international employment – Romanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Croatian and Slovak.

He also curiously claims that the biplane configuration "negatively affected the planes [sic] maneuverability in combat." He erroneously avers that Ju 87 armament included "twin MG 17 machine guns, one located underneath each wing". And his extensive body quotes really demand annotations.

Guardia, moreover, skirts the biggest question of all: If the Battle of Britain resolutely resolved the issue of Ju 87 obsolescence, why did production robustly increase until 1944? And why did the Luftwaffe widely rely on Stukas until the war's very end?

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